The official Chinese version of the latest Harry Potter book — “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” — went on sale in bookstores on Sunday, almost two months after an unofficial version was posted on the Internet.

One million copies of the book have been printed by the People’s Literature Publishing House in Beijing, which owns the copyright* for the Chinese-language version of the bestselling series for the Chinese mainland.

Priced at 66 yuan (US$8.80), the book about a boy wizard* is perhaps the most expensive children’s book on the mainland.

Nearly 10 million copies of the Chinese versions of the previous six installments* have been sold, and the number is rising, Pan Kaixiong, vice president of the publishing house said. Globally, the Harry Potter series has been translated into more than 60 languages and 325 million copies have been sold, earning about US$6 billion.

“We are ready to print more copies of the Chinese version at any time,” said Sun Shunlin, editor of the Chinese versions, adding that more than 180,000 copies of the last book were distributed* to bookstores in Beijing on Saturday night.

To prevent the official version from being pirated*, the publishing house has signed special contracts with bookstores and printing houses.

But there are fears that the unofficial translations online could damage sales of the official printed version.

Dozens of translations of J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” can be downloaded for free.

They were translated by fans just days after the release of the official English version in August.

Chinese fans are even going a step further by writing their own versions of the ending as well as other wizard adventures.

One of the most popular readings online is “Past Time of Lily Evans and James Potter,” about the relationship of Potter’s parents and his professor Severus Snape as well as stories of their friends, written by a 13-year-old girl.

(SD-Agencies)